Iron Spike Brewing Company starts canning beers

Friday

GALESBURG — Local brewery Iron Spike has begun canning two of its beers, and the beers should be in stores as soon as next week.

Iron Spike Brewing Company is canning its Flatback IPA and Light Rail cream ale, and the beers will be distributed to local stores through G&M Distributors.

"Those are our two most popular beers here at Iron Spike," said owner and chef Ryan Cardwell. "The Light Rail is an easy beer to drink for anybody, and then the Flatback is more of a craft-focused craft beer–drinker beer, so we wanted to hit everybody with the first two."

Because it is distributed through G&M, Cardwell wasn't sure exactly which stores will carry the cans.

"If there's people looking for them, make sure that they're asking the purchasing manager from the individual stores," Cardwell said.

G&M Distributors President Adam Vitale said it should be at both Galesburg Hy-Vees and most other Galesburg establishments.

"We're thrilled with the opportunity to distribute a local beer in our hometown and throughout the rest of our territory," Vitale said. "It gives me great pride to see how it's progressing and moving forward."

Iron Spike has spent about a year working on the cans.

"From the initial thought that we're going to start doing it, from all the market research, to all the design of the cans, and working with all the proper authorities to get the proper licensing, this has been literally a full-year project getting to canning those cans," Cardwell said. "So this is absolutely a milestone for the company, and it's something we're really proud of."

Iron Spike is canning the cans in a separate building behind Iron Spike that has been remodeled.

"We've got 60 barrels of fermentation space, on top of the 50 that we have inside, so we more than doubled our capacity," Cardwell said. "Our total yearly capacity is about 2,500 barrels a year right now, which is five times what we did last year.

"And we've got room to grow the company. We're trying to use this as a springboard for the next three to five years," he said.

Cardwell chose cans instead of bottles because of the higher quality and lower impact on the environment.

"A can is basically a micro-climate of a keg," he said. "There's zero light that gets in it, and light is the enemy of beer. It oxidizes the beer."

Aluminum cans are also easier to recycle and easier to ship because they are lighter, Cardwell said.

Because of Illinois's liquor laws, Iron Spike's canning business is technically a separate business from the restaurant.

"Our product here has to be strictly sold to the distributors, so we will have our cans for sale in Iron Spike to go, but Iron Spike will have to buy those cans from G&M," Cardwell said. "But that's just how you have to make it work with the current liquor laws the state has.

"We're really just trying to get our product out there and hope that people enjoy it."